Chocolate Cookies

These are "the cookies."

1-1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 ozs unsweetened chocolate
7 tbs butter
1 tsp coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Melt chips, unsweetened chocolate, and butter in double boiler. Remove and set aside to cool.

2. Stir coffee powder and vanilla together until dissolved. Beat eggs and sugar. Add vanilla-coffee mixture. Add melted chocolate mixture.

3. Whisk flour and baking powder together. Fold flour mixture and additional chocolate chips into batter. Let stand for 20 mins until batter firms up. (Looks like brownie batter).

4. Roll cookies into 1 tbs balls. Bake 350 F for 11 to 14 mins.

New York Style Crumb Cake

CRUMB TOPPING

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

8 tbs butter

1-3/4 cup cake flour

CAKE
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 cup cake flour
6 tbs butter

1. For the topping: Whisk sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter in bowl. Stir in flour until dough-like. Set aside.

2. For the cake: Whisk flour, granulated sugar, and baking soda, in large bowl. Beat butter into the flour mixture using an electric mixer. Beat in egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk until combined. Beat the batter until smooth.

3. Place batter in 8-inch sq cake pan. Break apart crumb mixture into pea sized pieces and layer on top of batter.

4. Bake 35-40 mins at 325 F.

5. Let cool for 30 mins and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Chocolate Mousse

My friend Arti came over for dinner on Sunday with the promise of making chocolate mousse if I cooked some dinner. She also made some delicious bruschetta too. She had gotten the chocolate deck for Christmas, a set of 50 recipe cards for decadent chocolate desserts. I encouraged her to go all Julie and Julia and try to make all the cards. The chocolate mousse was pretty easy although it suggests you chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. We did not have 4 hours so we cheated and threw the bowl in the freezer for about and hour and a half. It seemed to do the trick although some parts seemed to be getting a little more solid than mousse consistency. We were also a little worried when we were mixing the chocolate to the egg white and they seemed to be not stiff enough but it all turned out great at the end. It says it serves 4 but those four people better be ready for chocolate overload - 6 smaller portions seem more appropriate.

4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (we used semisweet but I think
bittersweet would be good too)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
pinch salt

Melt chocolate with cream in a double boiler (i.e., a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water). Whisk until smooth. Add half the sgar and whisk until blended. Add the rest of the sugar and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in one yolk at a time.

Beat eggs white and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed just to stiff peaks. Fold in 1/3 of the chocolate, repeat with the second 1/3 and then the rest until just blended.

Transfer to serving bowl, cover and chill for at least 4 hours if you want to do it right or cheat if you are not patient.

Nutcups

These are pretty much my favorite Christmas cookie that my mom makes. It really isn't even a cookie, but it is oh so delicious. It is like a small pecan pie but with a better filling to crust ratio. It is a little bit of a tedious process to make 4 dozen mini 'pies' shaping each one in a mini muffin tin but it is so worth it. The dough is a super simple cream cheese dough and can be made in advanced and left in the fridge for a few days. For a savory alternative skip the sweet filling and instead make mini quiches, caramelized onion tarts, or what ever else you can think of.

The Dough:

2 cups flour

1 cup butter/marg.

1 8 oz. cream cheese

Sift flour. Blend butter and cream cheese together. Blend into flour. Shape into ball, Wrap in wax paper, Chill.

The Filling:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 T melted butter
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
1/4 t vanilla

Beat eggs, add sugar, melted butter. Stir in nuts and vanilla.

The Process:
Preheat oven to 375.

Divide dough into 4 parts. Work with 1 section at a time and refrigerate rest. Roll into 1 foot log. Cut into 12 equal parts and make each into a ball. Press each ball into a mini muffin pan cup (here is where my mom uses a fancy pampered chef tool, but I have found that a champagne cork also works well).

Fill each 1/2 full with nut mixture. Bake 20 min until golden brown. Cool 2 min then remove from pan, put on their bottoms on wire rack to cool. Continue with each 1/4 until done.

Makes 4 dozen. Best when eaten warm.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

I received two small sugar pie pumpkins in my CSA back in October. So, I baked them, pureed them, and went searching my favorite food sites for pumpkin recipes. Joy the Baker had a handful of recipes that looked amazing. I made two. This was the first one.
The bars came out great. If you can get past the artery clogging aspects of this recipe, you will thoroughly enjoy it (e.g. eat 5+ bars/day). I couldn't always taste the butterscotch chips in this recipe. So, if you're a bitgbutterscotch fan, you might want to leave the chocolate chips out.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar, divided
• 1/2 C brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 Cc butter (~1 1/2 sitcks)
• 1 C oats, uncooked
• 1/2 C walnuts, chopped
• 1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
  
• 3 eggs
• 15 oz pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (recipe to follow)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• handful of butterscotch and/or semi sweet chocolate chip

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, F. Line an 9"x13" pan with foil and butter/flour or spray with Pam baking spray.
   
2. Combine flour, 1/4 C of sugar, and brown sugar. Add butter and cut into mixture (I tend to use a fork - a pastry cutter works well too). You want the mixture to be crumbly looking. Add oats and nuts.
3. Add 1 C of oat mixture (Step 2) to the baking pan. Press down evenly over the entire surface and bake for 15 mins.
4. In a separate bowl, combine remaining sugar, cream cheese, eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and vanilla. Mix well and pour onto pre-baked crust. Sprinkle the stop with butterscotch/chocolate chips (I used both!).
5. Bake for 25 mins and let cool for at least 10 mins.

Pumpkin Pie Spice
Mix equal parts of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I wanted to bake something last weekend - so I made two bread recipes. This is the better of the two (because of all the delicious chocolate). The bread tasted the best right after it came out of the oven. It was warm, moist, and the chocolate chips were still a little melted. This recipe was originally a cupcake recipe. I didn't change any of the ingredients or ratios. So the bread is very crumbly - like a cupcake would be (but still delicious). I also think this would have tasted good with some added nuts (e.g. walnuts). Enjoy!

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C melted butter
• 3/4 C oil*
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 C buttermilk
• 2 C grated zucchini
• 1 C chocolate chips
• 2 C flour
• 1 C cocoa, sifted
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

*The recipe called for vegetable oil. 101 cookbooks suggested using unrefined, scented, all natural coconut oil. I bought coconut oil - and found out when I got home that it was refined. So, it had no coconut aroma and I was VERY disappointed (because I love coconut). So, if you're going to the coconut oil route, go for the unrefined. If you're going to vegetable oil route, use half oil, half all-natural apple sauce. It will still be as moist and delicious - and slightly better for you than using all oil.

Recipe

1. Heat oven to 350 deg F. Grease 2 loaf pans (I like to use Pam Baking Spray because its easier than buttering and then flouring a baking surface).
2. In a small to medium bowl, combine the sugar, butter, and oil. Once mixed, add the eggs, one at a time. Then add the zucchini, chocolate chips, and buttermilk. Mix until combined.
3. In a large bowl add the remaining dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon). Once mixed, slowly add the wet ingredients (from step 2) until well combined.
4. Pour half of the mixture into each loaf pan.
5. Bake one at a time for approximately 35-45 minutes, until just done (or until no batter comes out on a knife inserted in the center).

Servings 2 loaves - probably 10-12 servings each?

Grilled Lemon Pound Cake

This is a tasty summer treat! The base for the recipe is lemon pound cake. Change lemon ingredients to orange ingredients and you have a lovely orange pound cake. You can top with vanilla ice cream, grilled peaches or a fresh berry syrup. Raspberries or blackberries complement the lemon flavor nicely.

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup lemon zest
1 tsp baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter (at room temp)
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray.
2. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed for 2 mins. Add eggs one at a time. At low speed, beat in flour, lemon zest, and baking powder until well incorporated. Beat in milk, lemon juice, and vanilla.
3. Bake for about 1 hr 15 mins or until golden yellow and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool for 20 mins. Unmold cake and let cool completely, about 3 hrs (or speed cooling up in fridge).
4. Light grill. Oil grill grate. Place slices of loaf on grill, turning once, until toasted, about 2 mins.

Grilled Peach Topping:
1. Slice peaches into 1/2 inch slices.
2. Oil grill grate. Place peaches on grill, turning once, about 2 mins.

Berry Syrup Topping:
1. Boil about 1/4 cup of water and 1 tsp of sugar. Add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of berries (bruise them well). Constantly stir mixture and let boil for about 5 mins.
2. Place berry syrup in freezer for about 20 mins to cool completely and it should thicken slightly.

Fruit Pizza

A great summer time dessert that can be made for the 4th of July using red and blue fruits with the white cream cheese filling for a festive looking red, white and blue creation. Or use your favorite fruits anytime of the summer for a dessert that is light and airy but sure to please.

Serves 8-12

Ingredients

Dough:
1-18 oz. pgk. refrigerator sugar cookies or
2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup butter

Cream layer:
1- 8oz. pgk. cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Fruit topping:
4 cups of various fruits-strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, grapes, bananas, peaches all work great- If bananas are used toss slices in 1-2 tsp. of lemon juice before arranging on cream cheese layer so they won't turn.

Directions

Crust: 2 choices-
1. 1-18 oz. pgk. refrigerator sugar cookie dough
2. Home made crust: Combine confectioner's sugar and flour in bowl, then cut in butter until crumbly, pat into ball.

With either dough (see above) press the dough onto an ungressed 12 in. pizza pan
Bake at 350 for 10-12 min, or until golden brown
Cool on Rack
Mix cream cheese with sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy
Spread evenly over cooled crust
Arrange strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries in decorative design on top of cream cheese mixture (4th of July color scheme). I used strawberries, kiwi, bananas and grapes for a colorful and delicious combination
Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hr
Slice and serve

Cream Cheese Frosting

cream cheese frosting. goes well with chai cupcakes but the possibilities are endless. helps if the cream cheese and butter are at room temperature. this amount should frost 24 cupcakes or 72 mini ones.

2.5 cups powered sugar
4 oz cream cheese
2 oz butter
splash of vanilla

mix in food processor until smooth and delicious

Chai Cupcakes

Here is a recipe for very delicious chai tea cupcakes. I brought them to a wedding and they were a big hit. When my sister and I made them we made mini cupcakes and they took about 17 minutes to bake. The regular sized ones took longer but I didn't keep track of exactly how long. They are really good with cream cheese frosting. The original recipe called for cow milk but I have made them with almond and soy milk and it turned out fine.

Chai Tea
5 chai tea bags
1 1/2 cup milk

Chai Spice Blend (I tend to use whatever spices I have around)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp gr cardamom
1/2 tsp gr ginger
1/2 tsp gr clove

Cupcake
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter - room temperature
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. heat/boil milk and tea bags on medium heat for 2 minutes
2. mix dry ingredients and spices
3. beat butter,sugar, and vanilla. beat in one egg at a time
4. alternate chai milk and flour into butter sugar mix in 3 batches

bake at 350 degrees until done

makes 24 regular size cupcakes or 72 mini ones

*These cupcakes have one raspberry as a garnish on each.